Estranged wives are having to adjust their expectations about their divorce settlements as a result of the trend for investment banks to reward their bankers with bonuses in deferred shares, rather than cash.

James Pirrie at Family Law in Partnership says many divorce settlements agreed at the height of the banking boom in 2006 may have to be revisited. Court orders that were fixed then assumed that cash bonuses would continue to be paid, but such arrangements became unworkable when cash was replaced by deferred shares.